Women Highlight Owl Effort at SoCal Preview

San Diego, CA -- After a two week absence from action, the Citrus College Cross Country program returned to the course on Friday afternoon when they went toe to toe with the best from around SoCal in the annual Southern California Preview. The Citrus Women put together a strong offering, but the men disappointed after their strong start two weeks ago at Tour de Cuesta.

Sophomore Lezly Morales led the flock of Owls on Friday afternoon at Tecolote Shores inside Mission Bay Park in San Diego. Morales finished in 69th place overall with a time of 21:41.45. Sophomore Janet Meza-Avila was just steps behind her in 70th place overall with a time of 21:41.51. After that it was Janet's sister Nataly Meza-Avila who crossed the finish line at 21:48.57 in 77th place overall. Sophomore Jacqueline Alcala was next to finish, coming in 86th place with a time of 22:08.02. Sophomore Jackeline Perez rounded out the top five with a 98th place finish and time of 22:33.35.

As a team, the Citrus women finished 13th out of the 24 competing teams. The Owls were the fourth WSC school behind first place Canyons, third place Glendale, and Bakersfield who finished one spot ahead of Citrus.

On the men's side, freshman Daniel Hernandez-Cabrera was the leader, finishing in 90th place with a time of 23:04.78. Sophomore Efren Alcala Jr. was next with a time of 23:30.39, coming in 114th place. Sophomore Emmanuel Mercado was just behind him in 118th place (23:36.29). Sophomore Juan Cruz was the next Owl up in 138th place and a time of 24:04.06, while sophomore Andres Aparicio was the fifth man through the chute with a time of 24:17.30 and 141st place finish.

The men came in 22nd place as a team out of the 30 participating programs, and were ninth out of 12 competing WSC schools.

Next up for the Owls is the Western State Conference Preview which will be hosted by Oxnard College at Oxnard College on Friday October 2nd. The women kick-off the racing at 11:00 AM.